1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an engine having an endless power transmitting member for transmitting a drive force between a drive shaft and a follower shaft, a hydraulic tensioner for providing tension to the endless power transmitting member, an oil pump for supplying oil to the tensioner, and a reservoir chamber provided in an oil passage extending from the oil pump to the tensioner so as to store the oil supplied to the tensioner.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2000-65146 discloses a system in which a tensioner is mounted in a balancer housing disposed below a crankshaft of an engine, an oil pump is accommodated in the balancer housing, and a portion of oil discharged by the oil pump is supplied to the tensioner to provide tension to a balancer drive chain.
In this conventional system, in order to prevent foreign matter contained in the oil from being supplied to an oil chamber in the tensioner and hence not being discharged therefrom, a filter is disposed between the tensioner and a reservoir chamber which stores a pressurized oil and which is formed between the oil pump and the tensioner, and the foreign matter is filtered by the filter. However, if the filter is mounted, correspondingly the number of parts is increased. Thus, it is desired to prevent the foreign matter from entering the tensioner without requiring the additional filter.